Wednesday, May 29, 2013

I work for a chiropractic doctor whom I dub Dr. Awesome, because he is a miracle worker. He is the kind of genuine individual, who never judges, respects his patients and gives people back their lives on a daily basis. I'm not exaggerating. He evaluates people on every base required to maintain a good health: structure (e.g., nervous, skeletal, muscular), biochemistry (nutrition), toxicity (e.g., metals, infections, food sensitivities/allergies), and emotional stress (it can kill you, friends).

I am not Dr. Awesome, nor a nutritionist, or anything so licensed or prestigious - but I get to sit and be a part of the journeys his patients embark on and I see honest-to-goodness miracles.

As you can imagine, it's a pretty motivating experience, and while I'm not perfect in any sense of the word, since Wombat and I have moved to Austin, we've gotten our lives back in a whole new better way.

First of all, we obviously have been getting treatment from our doctor. We took supplements and cleaned up some infections, and some nutritional deficiencies. He treated us for some neuro-emotional complexing, and got us both congruent with our new lives here.

Then we started to change our diet. We eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables - and can't wait til we can save up for a mega-blender to make green smoothies in the morning. We've started buying cleaner protein and have used it to replace a lot of our carbs (which I'm sorry to say, though filling and nummy, are extremely nutritionally lacking compared to your fruits, veggies, and protein).

We've also started using better sweeteners. We use raw honey which is ten times tastier than regular honey, but we still try to use it sparingly, because it is still sugar. We also use a combination of liquid stevia and xylitol - which together can be as sweet as sugar without much in the way of after-taste.

Also, because I don't have a car here I have had to walk home from work. I find walking super boring - so instead, I run-walk-waddle! It's been great to not have a choice about exercising, as I am notorious for exercising in short bursts.

I'm soap-boxing a little, I know, and I hope I didn't rustle anyone's jimmies, but my point in mentioning everything above is that - I have noticed distinctly that now that I'm feeling better, I'm writing better. I'm busier than I have been in years. I still struggle to fit in writing in between taking care of home chores, and working my tail off - but I have such a strong desire to write, and my head feels clearer, and when I do sit down to write, it comes easier and I feel happier about it.

It's taken me and Wombat over three years to get to this point. Three years of working in a holistic health field everyday. It doesn't happen overnight, and I've done it the wrong way more than once, but each and every step you take brings you closer. Start with something - whatever it is, just start! Pick ONE thing and get going - once that one thing isn't hard, pick ONE more new thing, and just keeping moving forward.

Here are some ideas of things I've done or have seen make big differences in people's lives:

Structure: *start walking every day for 30-60 minutes*find a good chiropractor and get adjusted regularly *stretch out or do some yoga every day to keep good motion in your joints *practice standing or sitting with better posture

Biochemistry: *get more nutritious foods in: fruit and veggies! *try drinking fruit and veggie rich smoothies in the morning *cut the carbs and sugars - just start saying "no thank you" to the goodies occasionally (that's how I started) *make more meals and snacks at home instead of eating out *eat at healthier restaurants when you do eat out *search foodgawker for paleorecipes, or simply pick the no dessertscategory

Emotional Stress: *learn about meditation and practice it *pray, if you pray * practice smiling at yourself in the mirror *practice affirmations every single day *treat yourself smartly when things are weighing you down- get a massage, read a good book, get good sleep (this can be huge in improving your health)

Take a look around at the other great ideas being shared on this our May 29th Get Healthy Blog Hop!
Good luck on your health journey!

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comments:

Hi D.V. It seems like the three years in the holistic health field is finally paying off! Proves that nothing happens overnight. You have to make the right choices and then persevere. Stick with it. This also requires loads of self-discipline. I'm certain your health will continue to improve in leaps and bounds!Well done!Nice to meet you via the blog hop.

Quick story that I just can't resist telling you: I suffer from migraines, have since I was 16. I tried everything and at one point I was seeing a neurologist who had me on so many different kinds of medications I couldn't even name them all. If he'd had his way, I think I'd be a hard-core opiate addict by now because he prescribed them like they were going out of style.

Finally, after years of this horror, I found my chiropractor. Now I get a migraine once a month tops and it's almost always due to my mentrual cycle (but she's trying to time my adjustments to kill even those). I take ZERO medications for them. I LOVE my chirpractor and I think it's fantastic that you work with one.

I also love these tips- it's great categorizing them like that and then sorting out the ones you find most useful.

WOW, you certainly have turned your life around! YAY, YOU! I love to read stories like yours. And you are so right... IT DOES TAKE TIME. Most people want an INSTANT fix from abusing their bodies for YEARS. You didn't put the weight on in a month, so don't expect to lose it an get healthy in a week.

It took me two years to get to where I am. And it WASN"T easy, but I know what I have to do and I do it. NO thinking about it. It's part of my life know. WE all need to realize this is a life choice/change.